Again, I didn't want to ruin the surprise on you yesterday, but we booked a tour to the Great Wall for today. Surprise! We decided to go to Mutianyu (again, for moi), since Badaling is overrun with National Day Tourists, and when we arrived at the desk this morning, we were delighted to find that we also got our own car, driver and guide! Yay! Our guide was called Kristina, and she was about two inches wide and Harbin is her hometown. So she's enjoying the fine weather. Our driver didn't speak and our car was air conditioned, so I snoozed for the hour or so while we drove there, which was very pleasant.
Upon arrival, the amount of domestic tourists was one immediate difference from last time
. The hawkers were also far more enthusiastic ("Three tee shut! One dolla!" "Postuh cawd! One dolla!" "Ten chopasthik! One dolla!"). Fortunately, Daddy wasn't in the mood for steps, so we got cable car tickets and headed straight up. We came out at a pavilion on tower 13 and watched a tai chi performance that turned out to be a tour of American high school students (you could tell because they clapped for themselves afterwards). As soon as they were finished, Kristina abandoned us. No idea why. It was very hot and the air was full of insects. Maybe she'd spent too long curling her hair this morning and just wasn't up for it. :P Anyway, we split up and walked at our own paces. I climbed a couple of the towers (prohibited? What's that?), and followed a bride and groom taking photos for a while. This whole taking extravagant photos before the wedding, especially when they have nothing to do with you at all is just beyond me. And they photoshop them beyond belief then too. Oh well. It's better than orange fake tan anyway
.
I made it up the hill towards Meowsy's phrase that's carved there, and went just beyond the "Danger: No admittance" sign before I'd burned up all my energy. I always get really wobbly knees walking back down a steep hill, so I took a break (and lots of photos) before the loud kids nearby annoyed me enough to prompt me to leave. The wobbly knees effect hadn't been resolved, but I discovered that if I ran down the slopes it didn't happen, plus, momentum would carry me a bit of the way back up the next hill, so I stuck to that method for the return journey. I met Daddy near the cable cars, and we joined the queue (yeah, an actual queue!) and hopped into number 26. Just before we soared down the hill however, a man busted open our doors and plonked himself into the seat opposite us. He had "Cable Worker" written on his uniform, but it was still rather unexpected. Back at the bottom, it was the pick-a-point-and-charge method to get through the hawkers. I'd been told that I was very abrupt with anyone who came up in my face and tried to sell me stuff, but guess which of us got through easily and which of us got surrounded by XXXL tee shuts and cheapy cheapy chopasticks? That's right
. :P I did buy some postcards - down from Y85 for 10 to Y18 for 20. I win.
Back in the car Kristina offered to take us to tea ceremony, which added to my doubts about her. We politely declined, I nodded off again, and it wasn't long before we were back at the hotel. It was heading for sunset, even though the nasty smog is back again, so I thought we should go and try to see the Olympic Park as it was lighting up. We took the subway this time, which required three changes and was very crowded, but is still one of the easiest and most efficient subway systems IN THE WORLD. Honest to god, they made this thing almost perfectly. Daddy even has an RFID card belonging to a Chinese friend of his in Ireland, and though he's only using it for the subway, it can also be used for buses, taxis and some shops. Convergence device, eh?
We got passed through my old haunting ground of Huixinjie Nankou and got out at the Olympics Sports Centre
. It was already dark, and the lights were on, but we went right up to the outside of the Birds Nest this time and I learned that it's made of concrete, not metal! Was I the only one who thought it was shiny and metally on tv??? Surprised again. We went across to the Watercube and found the entry ticket stall, and since it was only about €3, we headed on in. Yet another surprise: it's not just the Olympic pool that's in there. They have a waterpark, with fountains, splash pools and slides. Slides that require inflatable rafts. WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT. And am jealous. They looked FUN! :D The Olympic pool itself is still 50m long, and there's a separate pool at the opposite end with all the diving boards. In a third room they have a sort of rehabilitation pool, where people were helping other people swim, and they were only the three places we passed by. It's huuuuuuge. And the bubble walls look really cool on the inside too. :)
At this stage I was starved, but I knew of a Peking duck restaurant between the park and our next subway station
. I hadn't figured it was so terribly far away though. After google mapping it, I think we walked about 3km from the Watercube to the restaurant, and we'd been walking the Wall, the subway and the Olympic Plaza before that too. I'm all walked out. :P The restaurant was Quan Ju De, and it also turned out to be exactly the same one that Ying and Yen took me to last year, though I hadn't known that at all! They were closing at 9pm (how do Spaniards survive over here?), so they weren't too thrilled to see us at 8:15, but we got our duck, some beef and some kale. The duck just wasn't as nice as last time, which was a little sad, but it was still better than the takeaway you get in Ireland. Slicing a duck is an art form over here, and there's, like, nothing left on the bone after he's done. In Ireland, it's as if they put the meat through a blender and good luck to ya. :P
We decided to get a taxi back to the hotel, and the driver that we stopped was so shocked when we opened the door, he just blurted "Woah! Laowei!". He played Bon Jovi and Marilyn Manson at top volume for the whole journey, which thrilled my father, as you'd imagine, and we practically got a tour of the Dongsi Hutongs included, since traffic was so slow on the heading south. We're back in the suite now and my legs and neck cannot wait to lie down, so though I'd love to stay and type, I'm off to bed. :D
Wall wall wall
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Beijing, Beijing, China
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